Using Guitar Tabs to Learn to Play Guitar
I started playing guitar when I was 15 years old. I learned the hard way, by
ear. My neighbor next door played lead guitar and the kid across the street played
drums. My neighbor would show me the guitar chords and I would sing the songs.
The drummer's mothers favorite song was "Let it Be" by the Beatles. She would
come down during our rehearsals and in her Irish accent would say, "Play Let
it Be David, Play Let it Be". I bought some chord books to learn the different
chords. I don't believe they had guitar tabs or tablature back then (1969). That
would have been a huge help.
I took a few classical guitar lessons as well. Had to read music. What a drag. So slow and painful it was. I eventually learned to play leads by practicing my scales and learning by ear. I don’t know if any of you remember turntables and vinyl albums. I sat by the turntable for hours on end playing back a small segment over and over again to get the notes and eventually put it together.
Fast forward to the 1990's. Now after having sold my guitar and all of my equipment in the 1980's. I decided to give it another whirl. Mid-life crisis I guess. So I did some research and discovered this thing called tablature or as they called it, guitar
tabs. They had everything imaginable, Jimmy Page, Beatles, Hendrix, Metallica, even Van Halen. So I went out and bought up all of the guitar tabs books I could get my hands on. This just became way easier than the early days of my learning to play songs on guitar.
For those of you that do not know what guitar tabs or tablature are here's the skinny. The songs are laid out like regular music books, however in addition to the regular music scoring, there are one or more sets of lines with six strings and/or four string (for bass guitar). Each finger placement is represented by a fret number on the string, where you place your fingers. There are all kinds of other symbols representing things like bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, rake strings, etc. With guitar tabs, you shouldn't even have to hear the song to play it, however, I still like to hear the songs so I get the subtle nuances that each artists adds to the playing.
This guitar tablature sample shows drums, regular music scale and tabs.
Click on image for clearer view
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So now, I've been playing off and on for over 35 years and I feel real good about my ability to learn.
Using guitar tabs has helped me immensely and I am able to rock with the best. I am hoping that the information
contained here has helped you out. There are many other resources on the web and you can check them out below.
An AMAZING NEW LEARNING METHOD takes you where no other guitar course can!
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